Status: Doing
This is a course that I’m taking during August 2025 titled “Design de Concept Art and World Building”. This course focus onto visual design to create immersive environments and characters.
The first teacher was Titus Lunter.
What is Architecture?
“Its the result of a need of a function transformed into structure”…
“The ideal building has three elements; its is sturdy, useful and beautiful”
Form follows Function:
The way something looks is dictated by the function it has.
- The form is subjective
- The function is objective
Its important when creating a structure in a world to understand the functions it has, the rules it has to follow, but also consider the where, when and who is building the structures. A building in a game will always have a duo function as just as an existing building and as a possible game space. As a building it should look like it serve a determined function, normally for narrative support, and as a game space it should complement the game play, which may add some more rules/constraints for the creation of it. Examples:
- The camera needs to fit inside
- Need to add interest
- Need to be interactable by the player
- Its necessary to list the materials that would be used and the location where the structure would be. Some important questions related with materials for buildings in games can be:
- The glass need to be transparent?
- The glass need to be transparent?
- It needs to be regular color or can be other color?
- The windows and doors are made with wood or other materials?
Boundaries
How a person can measure success of their painting? As any other type of success measuring its necessary to define what is the objective of a certain action to it. Some possible goals of a paint can be:
- Functional building
- Create a fun space
Its important to understand the boundaries created by the media, the game and the problem being solved. The concept art for a 3d game is very different from a board game.
We need to understand the “who”, “what” and “why” of a structure to exist. The example gave on the course was a “light house made by giants and for giants in a desert”, making easy to categorize:
- Object: Lighthouse
- User: Giants
- Location: Desert
- Why: Giants overcoming navigational challenges in a treacherous desert
Answering is the “who”, “what” and “why” something look like this way help to understand the expectations that people have and this expectations are guided by the rules and the boundaries.
“Who is all about figuring out who is asking us to do this design and who will be using it”
- Who is the client?
- Who is the target audience?
“What are we making?”
- Its a illustration? Illustration is to telling a story
- Its a concept? Concept art is for solving problems
- Its a quick doodle?
“Why does this image need to be made?”
- Its to capture someone imagination?
- Its to show how something works?
After some research this questions will help to answer some others questions onto the design of the structure like:
- Why this doors has this width and height?
- Why this building is made out of stones?
Research:
The research should focus onto defining the boundaries and expectations of whatever it is that we are researching considering the questions defined by the measuring. Its important at this stage already be considerate about the rules/technical of the game being created by the developers.
The recommendation gave is to break the problem in bite size pieces considering the: landscape, the technological level and culture, and forms follow function.
“Set yourself for success by picking a landscape with ample amount of resources and is interesting enough for the client to look at”
A tip the professor give is to take some time studying how the building would be construct and how the joinery would be made. Its important to understand how the window, the door and the arcs will be looking like.
“Windows are largely decorative”:
- A good reflection of a culture.
- How the trim and edges will be looking like? ! Tip: There’s a project called Windows of the world where a person keep a lot of photos of windows. Can be a interesting place to be taking some references
“Doors are functional”:
- Think around how the hinges will be working ! Tip: There’s also a project called Doors of the world kept by the same person who take photos of interesting doors
“Arcs are structural”:
- They tend to evolve into domes and they’re a big part of how a roof is constructed.
- This indicated how technological the culture is
What to do and what not to do?
Work from big to small on research, but when creating go from small to big: Similar to what we do on level design, the ideal is to start with broad strokes and slowly built towards the more detailed information during the research. After when creating the actual structure we start to building the smaller parts: windows, doors, archways and from there we construct the environment. I would even say to work into your “tileset” before actually rendering the building, create your walls, windows, doors and arcs. Again always consider the function of what you are doing, solve the problem before make the solution look cooler.
Working from the siluette will give some information around how the entire building will be looking, but will not answer how the building was built considering the culture and tech, this will be answered by the joinery, windows, arcs, and doors. After its understand how this basic elements are constructed a ruleset will naturally emerge. With this on mind its easier to understand everything else.
Do ask questions all the time. Ask questions around the project all the time. Return to the basics: what, when, why, who and how constantly to check the necessities of the project. Some extra relevant questions that should also be kept in mind is:
- What are the angles that the building will be viewed?
- How the player will be interacting with this building?
- How big the environment need to be to sustain the mechanics proposed by game design?
Do consider all the limitations of the project The reality will always impose itself, so consider the technology that your team will be using during the project as the materials that you will be using for it.
Do take your time Some projects and buildings will be very complex and you should respect that. Making everything consolidate and cohesive may take some time.
Don’t stress Just reinforcing the other point of taking time to study and understand the problem that you are trying to solve. The project can be very complex and
Don’t make assumptions The view/player will not know the same as the one who is creating. Check with your target audience with they are following you on your creation. Don’t loose sight of it.
Don’t forget your reality Consider the physics, scale and other possible aspects imposed by the world. Understand the rules and stick to the rules created. This is valid for painting, but I can see that for game design and others aspects on level design.
“The rules of the world is what its sets the expectations for the people.”
On the first iterations don’t bother on making the elements cohesive, try to understand the rules imposed on the environment and then as iterations passes you will be consolidating it.
Don’t forget time passage The teacher is saying that is common for older buildings have being touched/altered as the time passes. People around it will adjust their environment as the times has changed
Don’t start rendering right away Do your research before rendering anything. As everything, this is a iterative process, you may need some iterations until the piece is suitable for the project.
Consider the shape language (Bouba Kiki Effect) Do a little research on the shape language that will be used on the building. Different shapes will represent different archetypes and this should be considered. Rounder shapes are much more friendly than a spike shape as vertical and horizontal lines are considered much more stable as diagonals are more dynamic. This is subject to culture, so do your research, always.
“Contrast creates interest”.
“Understand how the shadows will form”